Since birth, Jacob and Esau have been twins in competition with each other.
The Birth of Esau and Jacob
The final straw between the siblings occurs when Jacob obtains both Esau's birthright and blessing through trickery. In this recorded dialogue, Jacob confronts Esau about Esau's thoughts to kill Jacob. This project is made up of a newly discovered recording of what transpired between Jacob and Esau, character analyses drawn from the text of Genesis and prominent Bible paintings as well as from within the dialogue, background information about the paintings and their artists, finally closing out with the original brainstorm and reflection.How would you react if you found out that your brother wanted to kill you?
Audio Conversation
Dialogue
Jacob: I've heard you want to kill me...
Esau: Yes, well, why wouldn't I?
Dramatic music.
Esau: You have stolen my birthright and my blessing, both deceitfully. There is no reason that I wouldn't want to eliminate you from the face of the planet and never hear from you again.
Jacob: Let me explain myself, brother. Let me show you that this is the wrong thing to do and we can forgive each other and put this behind us.
Esau: Why would I do that, Jacob? I don't want to listen to you explain the reason for your actions. All I know is that they were wrong and I seek revenge.
Awkward pause.
Esau: Sigh All right, let me hear the reason for your actions and I might be able to see some sense behind it and forgive you for your wrongdoings if we strike a compromise even though others might not.
Jacob: Deep breath Frankly, I did not feel that God's blessing should be passed down through a line of spineless and weak-minded men... like yourself.
Esau: And how do I know that you aren't simply lying to cover up the real reason?
Jacob: Speaking carefully Esau, I am your brother. I think you would know if I were lying to you.
Esau: I hear the tension in your voice, but I cannot tell if it is from deception or if you are truly feeling remorse for taking my birthright and my blessing.
Jacob: Believe me when I say this brother: I only wanted to make the world a better place, and I saw an easy way in which to do that.
Esau: What is stopping me from killing you right now?
Jacob: If you were truly going to kill me, you would have done so already.
Esau: Resignedly How do you know that?
Jacob: Here I am, standing unarmed and you are physically stronger than I am. You easily could have overpowered me and killed me already.
Esau: You are right. There are many reasons why I could not kill you now.
Jacob: Such as what, brother?
Esau: I am afraid of you.
Jacob: Of what? You are much stronger than I, and here I am standing before you unarmed. You have nothing to fear.
Isaac Blessing Jacob
Esau: Oh, but I do. Now that Father has given you God's blessing, harming you would only bring God's wrath down upon me. I wish to preserve my favor with God. That is of utmost importance, pleasing God. Besides, you are frightening when you are angry.
Jacob: So it is only fear of God that keeps you from killing me?
Esau: Yes, even though it is you who has done wrong and I should not be punished for taking revenge for something wrong that you did to me.
Jacob: If you so believe that killing me is the righteous thing to do, then do it.
Esau: I could not, not now with Isaac, our father, in the room right next to us. I could not do that to him.
Jacob: Why not? He most likely suspects you of having murderous thoughts about me already. After all, Rebekah already knows, how then could Isaac not?
Esau: I do not understand why you are taunting me with your words. I might just kill you.
Jacob: That was all part of my trap for you. By seeming to give you the opportunity to kill me, I knew that you would see the factors that would inevitably hold you back from doing so.
Esau: Extremely angry now I will not let you play with my mind like that.
Sounds of a scuffle, scuffle ends, dramatic music leads into...
Jacob: You cannot win against me. Remember, Esau, God is on my side.
Esau: Why should he be? You are the one who has wrongfully tricked me out of what is rightfully mind, and now you are claiming that God will protect you against me? I have done no wrong. God should be on my side.
Jacob: That may be so, but nevertheless, God is on my side. If he is not on my side now, I will find a way to appease him and sway him into favoring me over you. Besides, I have the blessing already,
Esau: I will kill you someday.
Jacob: On our next meeting you will have reconsidered your vow to kill me and we can reconcile in peace.
Esau: Who are you to say something like that?
Jacob: I am your brother. I know you well. Farewell, brother.
Footsteps running away
Character Analyses (Genesis and artwork)
Jacob often displays his cunning personality through his determination to achieve his goals and get what he wants.
Isaac Blessing Jacob
When Jacob fearfully meets his brother Esau for the first time in twenty years, he gives Esau many gifts and says to him, "'I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight'" (Gen. 32.5). Jacob refers to Esau as his "lord" even though Jacob has received their father's blessing and has much more power than Esau, displaying the cunning side of his personality as he tries to persuade Esau not to harm him by referring to him as the higher power and flattering him.
Throughout Genesis, Jacob often uses his craftiness to trick others into doing what Jacob wants them to do, earning him wealth and power. Although Jacob tends to twist situations into his favor by scheming against others, he would not have achieved as much if he had not been as determined.
InIsaac Blessing Jacob, Gustave Doré portrays Jacob's kneeling at the feet of his father, Isaac, eyes cast down as he relies on his mother to guard against Esau. In Genesis, the redactors portray women as inferior to men, so Jacob's reliance on his mother shows the lengths to which he will go in order to receive the blessing. Jacob's determination allows him to persevere through many situations throughout Genesis that others might not possess the willpower to push through.
Due to Esau's eagerness to please others, he forgives others quickly in an effort to gain favor.
The Reconciliation of Jacob and Esau
Although Esau already has two Canaanite wives of his own, "when Esau [sees] that the Canaanite [wives] did not please his father, Esau . . . took Mahalath . . . to be his wife in addition" (Gen. 28.8-9).
His two Canaanite wives already have made him content, so only "when" he discovers this way to gain favor with his father does he take an Israelite wife. Esau's concern with pleasing those around him often leads him to change what he originally intended to do in order to satisfy others' wishes, often leaving him in a position where he undertakes more work than necessary or leaving him regretful of the things he did.
One of the ways that Esau conveys his eagerness to please others is through his quick forgiveness. Jacob and Esau have been bitter towards each toehr for twenty years, but Peter Paul Rubens depicts Esau reaching down to help Jacob up in the paintingThe Reconciliation of Jacob and Esauupon their heartfelt reunion. Although years of nastiness lie between the two men, Rubens shows Esau's large muscles bulging and straining as he helps his brother up, showing that he forgives quickly, as they have only been talking for a few minutes.
Because Esau tends to make allowances for the wrongdoings of others, he ends up being happier than he could have been, had he not reunited peacefully with his brother Jacob. This trait allows Esau to be a happier person overall because he does not have many grudges like his brother Jacob does, so much less negativity exists in his life.
Character Analyses (dialogue)
Jacob uses his determination to come up with crafty plans with which he can achieve things he wants to do.
Towards the end of the dialogue, when the Jacob and his twin Esau are almost parting after arguing about who God favors more, Jacob states that he " will find a way to appease [God] and sway him into favoring [Jacob] over [Esau]" (Cheng 1). Jacob's use of the modal auxiliary "will" shows that the appeasement of God will be happening without a doubt, displaying Jacob's determination.
Undertaking the task of changing God's opinion of a person would be difficult enough for Jacob, but Jacob has enough determination with a hint of arrogance to state that what he wants to get done "will" get done.
The fact that Esau knows that Jacob has the willpower to accomplish whatever Jacob sets his mind to frightens Esau into forgiving Jacob years later when they reconcile in Genesis. Part of what allows Jacob to achieve all that he wants to achieve is his ability to think outside of the box.
He tricks Esau into seeing the reasons that Esau could not kill Jacob right there. He explains that by presenting Esau with an opening to kill him, he "knew that [Esau] would see the factors that would inevitably hold [him] back from doing so" (Cheng 1).
Knowing his brother so well probably helped, but coming up with such a clever plan does require craftiness on Jacob's part. The fact that Jacob "knew" what his brother's reaction would be exhibits his careful strategizing and planning ahead.
Jacob's vigilant planning helps him through many situations throughout Genesis, as well as preventing his brother from killing him right before Jacob runs away. Artists' Information
Peter Paul Rubens
Peter Paul Rubens: Born in the 16th century, Peter Paul Rubens painted in the Flemish Baroque style and has gained renown particularly for his mythological and allegorical paintings. The sixth child born to his parents, Rubens ran a studio in Antwerp, Belgium which produced many popular paintings such as The Drunken Hercules and Venus, Cupid, Baccchus, and Ceres.
Gustave Doré : A French artist from the 19th century, Gustave Doré specialized in book illustration,
Gustave Doré
most notably the Bible, Milton, Dante,on Quixote, and others. His illustrations were famed, but he never became part of the "French artistic elite." Moving to London to spend his later years, Doré died at the age of 51.
ReflectionThis process started with a Webspiration document on which I brainstormed all my thoughts about what sort of traits I might want to portray in my dialogue that were shown throughout Genesis as well as in various prominent Bible paintings.
Webspiration Brainstorm
I feel like the process of creating this dialogue and wiki page to go with it has helped me grow as an English student in many ways. It taught me how to use different aspects of technology, such as Webspiration, WikiSpaces, and GarageBand.
Recording on the computer was one of the most difficult things to achieve because either someone in my house would make some sort of noise that would be picked up by my computer, my mom or I would say our lines wrong, or something would go wrong and it would stop recording in the middle of the dialogue. I ended up recording each line separately so I could move them around to get timing and interruptions the way I wanted them to sound in the dialogue.
Although it was a frustrating experience, it really taught me patience and perseverance above anything else. Something very prominent throughout the course of completing this project was the importance of not procrastinating. A lot of the homework that our teacher assigned us to do over the course of the time from assignment of the project to the due date was to work on the project, but I oftentimes found myself hesitant to work on the project with the mindset that I could just do it the next night, or the next night, or the next night.
I've learned that if one procrastinates on a long-term project, all the work tends to pile up until he's left doing it all on one night, which is an undesirable situation to be in. In terms of my writing, I think that this project taught me how to better gain insight into characters, because we had to reverse engineer it.
By coming up with plotlines to convey a trait, I got to experience the different ways in which authors can convey their characters' traits. By gaining this new insight, I think that I can in turn be better at identifying and proving various traits about characters in the future.
This project has been pretty fun for me, with its originality and creative freedom and the different uses of various technological programs.
A Different Sort of Brotherhood
by Justine C.
Since birth, Jacob and Esau have been twins in competition with each other.
The Birth of Esau and Jacob
The final straw between the siblings occurs when Jacob obtains both Esau's birthright and blessing through trickery. In this recorded dialogue, Jacob confronts Esau about Esau's thoughts to kill Jacob. This project is made up of a newly discovered recording of what transpired between Jacob and Esau, character analyses drawn from the text of Genesis and prominent Bible paintings as well as from within the dialogue, background information about the paintings and their artists, finally closing out with the original brainstorm and reflection.How would you react if you found out that your brother wanted to kill you?
Audio Conversation
Dialogue
Jacob: I've heard you want to kill me...Esau: Yes, well, why wouldn't I?
Dramatic music.
Esau: You have stolen my birthright and my blessing, both deceitfully. There is no reason that I wouldn't want to eliminate you from the face of the planet and never hear from you again.
Jacob: Let me explain myself, brother. Let me show you that this is the wrong thing to do and we can forgive each other and put this behind us.
Esau: Why would I do that, Jacob? I don't want to listen to you explain the reason for your actions. All I know is that they were wrong and I seek revenge.
Awkward pause.
Esau: Sigh All right, let me hear the reason for your actions and I might be able to see some sense behind it and forgive you for your wrongdoings if we strike a compromise even though others might not.
Jacob: Deep breath Frankly, I did not feel that God's blessing should be passed down through a line of spineless and weak-minded men... like yourself.
Esau: And how do I know that you aren't simply lying to cover up the real reason?
Jacob: Speaking carefully Esau, I am your brother. I think you would know if I were lying to you.
Esau: I hear the tension in your voice, but I cannot tell if it is from deception or if you are truly feeling remorse for taking my birthright and my blessing.
Jacob: Believe me when I say this brother: I only wanted to make the world a better place, and I saw an easy way in which to do that.
Esau: What is stopping me from killing you right now?
Jacob: If you were truly going to kill me, you would have done so already.
Esau: Resignedly How do you know that?
Jacob: Here I am, standing unarmed and you are physically stronger than I am. You easily could have overpowered me and killed me already.
Esau: You are right. There are many reasons why I could not kill you now.
Jacob: Such as what, brother?
Esau: I am afraid of you.
Jacob: Of what? You are much stronger than I, and here I am standing before you unarmed. You have nothing to fear.
Jacob: So it is only fear of God that keeps you from killing me?
Esau: Yes, even though it is you who has done wrong and I should not be punished for taking revenge for something wrong that you did to me.
Jacob: If you so believe that killing me is the righteous thing to do, then do it.
Esau: I could not, not now with Isaac, our father, in the room right next to us. I could not do that to him.
Jacob: Why not? He most likely suspects you of having murderous thoughts about me already. After all, Rebekah already knows, how then could Isaac not?
Esau: I do not understand why you are taunting me with your words. I might just kill you.
Jacob: That was all part of my trap for you. By seeming to give you the opportunity to kill me, I knew that you would see the factors that would inevitably hold you back from doing so.
Esau: Extremely angry now I will not let you play with my mind like that.
Sounds of a scuffle, scuffle ends, dramatic music leads into...
Jacob: You cannot win against me. Remember, Esau, God is on my side.
Esau: Why should he be? You are the one who has wrongfully tricked me out of what is rightfully mind, and now you are claiming that God will protect you against me? I have done no wrong. God should be on my side.
Jacob: That may be so, but nevertheless, God is on my side. If he is not on my side now, I will find a way to appease him and sway him into favoring me over you. Besides, I have the blessing already,
Esau: I will kill you someday.
Jacob: On our next meeting you will have reconsidered your vow to kill me and we can reconcile in peace.
Esau: Who are you to say something like that?
Jacob: I am your brother. I know you well. Farewell, brother.
Footsteps running away
Character Analyses (Genesis and artwork)
Jacob often displays his cunning personality through his determination to achieve his goals and get what he wants.When Jacob fearfully meets his brother Esau for the first time in twenty years, he gives Esau many gifts and says to him, "'I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight'" (Gen. 32.5). Jacob refers to Esau as his "lord" even though Jacob has received their father's blessing and has much more power than Esau, displaying the cunning side of his personality as he tries to persuade Esau not to harm him by referring to him as the higher power and flattering him.
Throughout Genesis, Jacob often uses his craftiness to trick others into doing what Jacob wants them to do, earning him wealth and power. Although Jacob tends to twist situations into his favor by scheming against others, he would not have achieved as much if he had not been as determined.
In Isaac Blessing Jacob , Gustave Doré portrays Jacob's kneeling at the feet of his father, Isaac, eyes cast down as he relies on his mother to guard against Esau. In Genesis, the redactors portray women as inferior to men, so Jacob's reliance on his mother shows the lengths to which he will go in order to receive the blessing. Jacob's determination allows him to persevere through many situations throughout Genesis that others might not possess the willpower to push through.
Due to Esau's eagerness to please others, he forgives others quickly in an effort to gain favor.
Although Esau already has two Canaanite wives of his own, "when Esau [sees] that the Canaanite [wives] did not please his father, Esau . . . took Mahalath . . . to be his wife in addition" (Gen. 28.8-9).
His two Canaanite wives already have made him content, so only "when" he discovers this way to gain favor with his father does he take an Israelite wife. Esau's concern with pleasing those around him often leads him to change what he originally intended to do in order to satisfy others' wishes, often leaving him in a position where he undertakes more work than necessary or leaving him regretful of the things he did.
One of the ways that Esau conveys his eagerness to please others is through his quick forgiveness. Jacob and Esau have been bitter towards each toehr for twenty years, but Peter Paul Rubens depicts Esau reaching down to help Jacob up in the paintingThe Reconciliation of Jacob and Esau upon their heartfelt reunion. Although years of nastiness lie between the two men, Rubens shows Esau's large muscles bulging and straining as he helps his brother up, showing that he forgives quickly, as they have only been talking for a few minutes.
Because Esau tends to make allowances for the wrongdoings of others, he ends up being happier than he could have been, had he not reunited peacefully with his brother Jacob. This trait allows Esau to be a happier person overall because he does not have many grudges like his brother Jacob does, so much less negativity exists in his life.
Character Analyses (dialogue)
Jacob uses his determination to come up with crafty plans with which he can achieve things he wants to do.Towards the end of the dialogue, when the Jacob and his twin Esau are almost parting after arguing about who God favors more, Jacob states that he " will find a way to appease [God] and sway him into favoring [Jacob] over [Esau]" (Cheng 1). Jacob's use of the modal auxiliary "will" shows that the appeasement of God will be happening without a doubt, displaying Jacob's determination.
Undertaking the task of changing God's opinion of a person would be difficult enough for Jacob, but Jacob has enough determination with a hint of arrogance to state that what he wants to get done "will" get done.
The fact that Esau knows that Jacob has the willpower to accomplish whatever Jacob sets his mind to frightens Esau into forgiving Jacob years later when they reconcile in Genesis. Part of what allows Jacob to achieve all that he wants to achieve is his ability to think outside of the box.
He tricks Esau into seeing the reasons that Esau could not kill Jacob right there. He explains that by presenting Esau with an opening to kill him, he "knew that [Esau] would see the factors that would inevitably hold [him] back from doing so" (Cheng 1).
Knowing his brother so well probably helped, but coming up with such a clever plan does require craftiness on Jacob's part. The fact that Jacob "knew" what his brother's reaction would be exhibits his careful strategizing and planning ahead.
Jacob's vigilant planning helps him through many situations throughout Genesis, as well as preventing his brother from killing him right before Jacob runs away.
Artists' Information
Gustave Doré : A French artist from the 19th century, Gustave Doré specialized in book illustration,
ReflectionThis process started with a Webspiration document on which I brainstormed all my thoughts about what sort of traits I might want to portray in my dialogue that were shown throughout Genesis as well as in various prominent Bible paintings.
I feel like the process of creating this dialogue and wiki page to go with it has helped me grow as an English student in many ways. It taught me how to use different aspects of technology, such as Webspiration, WikiSpaces, and GarageBand.
Recording on the computer was one of the most difficult things to achieve because either someone in my house would make some sort of noise that would be picked up by my computer, my mom or I would say our lines wrong, or something would go wrong and it would stop recording in the middle of the dialogue. I ended up recording each line separately so I could move them around to get timing and interruptions the way I wanted them to sound in the dialogue.
Although it was a frustrating experience, it really taught me patience and perseverance above anything else. Something very prominent throughout the course of completing this project was the importance of not procrastinating. A lot of the homework that our teacher assigned us to do over the course of the time from assignment of the project to the due date was to work on the project, but I oftentimes found myself hesitant to work on the project with the mindset that I could just do it the next night, or the next night, or the next night.
I've learned that if one procrastinates on a long-term project, all the work tends to pile up until he's left doing it all on one night, which is an undesirable situation to be in. In terms of my writing, I think that this project taught me how to better gain insight into characters, because we had to reverse engineer it.
By coming up with plotlines to convey a trait, I got to experience the different ways in which authors can convey their characters' traits. By gaining this new insight, I think that I can in turn be better at identifying and proving various traits about characters in the future.
This project has been pretty fun for me, with its originality and creative freedom and the different uses of various technological programs.
Works Cited
"Dore Bible Gallery." Catholic Resources. Felix Just, S.J., 28 May 2009. Web. 9 May 2010. <http://catholic-resources.org/Art/Dore.htm>."Isaac Blesses Jacob." Art and the Bible. Web. 19 May 2010. <http://www.artbible.info/art/large/83.html>.
"Isaac Blessing Jacob." Web. 9 May 2010. <http://www.creationism.org/images/DoreBibleIllus/aGen2729Dore_IsaacBlessingJacob.jpg>.
"Paul Gustave Dore." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 18 May 2010. <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Paul_Gustave_Dore_by_Felix_Nadar_1855-1859.jpg>.
"Peter Paul Rubens Biography." Peter Paul Rubens - the complete works. www.peterpaulrubens.org, 2010. Web. 9 May 2010. <http://www.peterpaulrubens.org/biography.html>.
"Self Portrait." Self Portrait - Peter Paul Rubens. Web. 18 May 2010. <http://www.peterpaulrubens.org/Self-Portrait.html>.
"The Birth of Esau and Jacob." Jacob and Esau: A Theology of Pathology. Web. 17 May 2010. <http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20050704JJ.shtml>.
The New Oxford Annotated Bible. Ed. Michael D. Coogan, et al. 3rd ed. Oxford: University Press, 2007. Print.
"The Reconciliation of Jacob and Esau." National Galleries of Scotland. Web. 9 May 2010. <http://www.nationalgalleries.org/collection/online_search/4:324/result/0/5656>.